Supreme Court refuses to hear bid to halt murder trial over delays

OTTAWA — A former soldier facing a murder charge in Ontario has lost a bid to halt his trial over concerns about delays in the case.

The Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear Adam Picard’s challenge of an appeal court decision dismissing his arguments about the time it took to bring the case to trial.

Picard was arrested in December 2012 in the killing of 28-year-old Fouad Nayel, who went missing in June that year.

The trial was set to begin in 2016 but the Ontario Superior Court of Justice stayed the first-degree murder charge in light of new time limits established by the Supreme Court.

In its appeal, the Crown argued the judge mischaracterized the nature of the delays, failed to consider the complexity of the case and did not properly account for a transitional period in applying the new rules.

The Ontario Court of Appeal allowed the appeal last September and ordered the trial to proceed, prompting Picard to take his case to the Supreme Court.